“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie

For some of us, having a happy holiday season feels daunting or even close to impossible. It seems that no matter how hard we work to insulate ourselves against our issues around home and family, the tunnel from Thanksgiving to New Years is a minefield loaded with hidden traps, double agents and too many opportunities to self-destruct or rip open old wounds and old injuries.

Greetings, Pinkies! In honor of Mental Illness Awareness Week and today -- National Depression Screening Awareness Day -- we want to share some insight, bust some myths, and get real about how depression affects us and our loved ones. Jennifer's story about finding the right therapist will no doubt resonate with many of us who have searched, or thought about searching, for that special someone -- ok, the other special someone: the therapist with whom you feel most comfortable and heard. Enjoy -- and many thanks to Jennifer for digging deep and sharing your journey!

When I was in high school, I wanted to see a therapist; I was experiencing massive anxiety about school and relationships and it was affecting my sleep and my eating habits. There were periods when my hands would shake so much it was hard to hold a pencil or fork. But, I knew it was useless to ask my parents about it. They made their thoughts on therapy very clear. The idea of telling a stranger all your secrets went against everything they believed in. According to them, if people know things about you, no matter how mundane, they’ll use this knowledge against you. They’ll judge you. They’ll tell everyone else, and your life will be ruined. You’ll never get into college or get a job or a loan for a car. And, if other people were to know you were going to a therapist, they’d assume the worst, and there would be even more people ruining your life.

In a recent Owning Pink poll, I see that almost half of Owning Pink readers do not know what Radical Self Care is.  Yikes! I became an Owning Pink blogger in part to spread the word about radical self care. I have clearly been snoozing on the job! So no more putting off that series of posts about radical self care tools I use to maintain my mojo - let's get started.

Tummy trembles. Brain fuzz. That discombobulating feeling that tells you you're not quite sure what you should be doing but you know you should be doing something to keep your act together. Anxiety. Sometimes it slips away with a few deep breaths, other times you need to beat it off with a stick or some little white pills.